Comparing Careerbuilder vs. Monster for Employers Seeking Workers

Do you need to fill a job opening? Are you looking to hire a qualified applicant with a minimum of hassles?

In that case, you’ve no doubt considered using a popular jobs board like Careerbuilder or Monster. These are two of the best job search sites. But what’s the difference between the two? Which one would be best for what you need?

A third website that competes with them is ZipRecruiter, which can post a job opening to up to 100 job boards at the same time. If neither Careerbuilder nor Monster has exactly what you need, ZipRecruiter might be a better choice to find qualified candidates for your job vacancy.

As for Careerbuilder and Monster, there are key differences between them. In this guide, we’ll do a side-by-side comparison between these two platforms — how they work, what they cost and what kind of job seekers they’re aimed at.

What is Careerbuilder?

CareerBuilder is a job posting site that leverages a mix of custom tools, analytics, third-party software integration and flexible payment options to help employers find qualified candidates.

CareerBuilder.com sees about 8.5 million U.S. users monthly and provides access to about 80 million candidate resumes.

The site offers employers access to over 80 million resumes and social media profiles. Like ZipRecruiter, it can share job postings with other job boards around the internet (although to a lesser extent).

There are hiring solutions for companies of all sizes, from small businesses up to enterprise organizations. You can choose one of its tiered, full-service packages or build your own by picking the number of job ads and monthly resume searches you want.

What is Monster?

Monster delivers many of the same core features as other job boards like Indeed, CareerBuilder and ZipRecruiter. For many recruiters and employers, Monster’s standout feature is simplicity.

Creating a job posting is simple. You can choose from more than 2,000 templates to build your job ad. You can also let Monster suggest candidates for your company’s open positions based on factors you specify: skills, location, experience and more.

You can get a taste of what Monster has to offer through a free trial, but you can’t post a job for free as you can with Indeed. While there are no fully free options, Monster offers plenty of support resources to keep your recruitment efforts fruitful and cost-effective.

Monster has its own applicant tracking system to help manage your recruitment campaign. If you want to use your chosen ATS instead, you’ll need to use another job board.

Monster offers a library of training content to empower hiring managers and recruiters to make the most of the job board’s tools and features. Plus, the company offers customer support by phone or email during business hours in case you get stuck.

Careerbuilder for Employers

CareerBuilder offers a large database of resumes, access to linked social profiles, support for a host of third-party applicant tracking systems, automated emails and instrumental add-ons like candidate sourcing.

However, it limits the number of resumes you can view monthly, while sites like ZipRecruiter offer unlimited views to make it easier to find the best candidates.

Helpful solutions, like CareerBuilder’s candidate-screening service, “Source and Screen,” can enhance your recruitment campaign with candidate screening, job-post promotion, scheduling and branding.

Smaller HR departments might find Source and Screen to be the most impactful add-ons offered by CareerBuilder. The program outsources branding, job post promotion, candidate sourcing and screening duties to a partner service.

Monster for Employers

Since Monster was one of the first job sites out there, it seems most employers have posted job listings on there at some point, to help in their recruiting process.

Monster and ZipRecruiter have a lot in common when it comes to their main service, but the key difference is that some features are only available with higher cost plans on Monster. For example, the ability to proactively search through resumes, text and email job seekers or narrow your search parameters can only be used when paying for a Standard or Premium plan.

You can also reuse job postings on Monster instead of having to recreate a new post for additional similar jobs.

CareerBuilder vs. Monster: Comparing Costs for Employers

Here’s an interesting similarity between these two job sites: Each of them has three different tiers of membership for employers who are looking for job candidates, with the more expensive tiers offering more tools and options.

Monster’s monthly subscription starts at $279 for a single job posting and increases based on the number of active job openings and the ability to send them to other job search sites with their Performance Boost capability. Monster also has the ability to post ads on the job site, so an employer only pays when someone views their job listing.

Here’s a head-to-head comparison between the two:

Monster’s Prices:

• $279: Starter package includes one slot for a job posting, 50 resume views per month
• $399: Standard package includes three job slots, placement on partner sites for 30 days, ability to view 150 resumes per month
• $649: Premium package includes five slots, placement on partner sites for 30 days, 250 resume views monthly

CareerBuilder’s Prices:

• $219: “Lite” package includes one job ad, 500 resume database searches, alerts and custom candidate lists.
• $299: Standard package includes three job postings, 500 resume searches, alerts and custom candidate lists.
• $599: Pro package includes five job postings, 500 searches, alerts and custom candidate lists.
• $375: “Build Your Own” package starts with one job posting and 30 days of resume search access.

Meanwhile, ZipRecruiter’s pricing starts as low as $16 per day for one reusable job post and increases based on a number of factors, including industry, resume downloads and number of users you want on your account.

One money-saving tactic for employers using ZipRecruiter is having a reusable job slot. Meaning job posts aren’t locked in for 30 days, and they can be swapped out for a new job as soon as the other posting has closed.

CareerBuilder vs. Monster: The Bottom Line

Seriously, how do you choose from among the best job search sites? When it comes to comparing job boards, it’s important to know what you’re looking for before you make a decision on where to start.

There’s a lot to like and dislike about CareerBuilder. On the downside, it’s considerably smaller than sites like LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter and Indeed.

However, CareerBuilder has more of a boutique feel with bespoke recruitment solutions and lots of add-ons, such as outsourced screening solutions and AI-based talent discovery tools.

As for Monster, it’s certainly larger than CareerBuilder. Monster is actually one of the most popular job posting sites in the world, attracting 35 million visitors per month.

However, bigger isn’t always better. Some employers report finding Monster difficult to navigate.

Now, with the ability to simply syndicate job postings, create sponsored jobs, boost team collaboration and take advantage of the job site’s artificial intelligence, there’s a reason why ZipRecruiter has been named the No. 1 website for employers’ hiring needs. It has a nearly perfect rating on TrustPilot, taking it to the top spot above all the other job boards.

As for people who are job searching and hoping to get plenty of resume views on their job search, ZipRecruiter has thousands of potential employers and millions of jobs to search through. And with the recruiting process made simple for a potential employer, it then makes it easier for job seekers to make it through the job search process.